The present invention relates generally to article mounts, and more particularly to a mount for hanging an article to a support wherein the article is automatically aligned to vertical upon initial engagement of the mounting members.
There has been considerable need for an article mount which will automatically align an article being hung on a support to a vertical position, once the mounting brackets have been initially engaged, merely through the gravitational forces of the article itself.
By way of example, many articles, such as transformer cans or kettles, street lamps, etc., are mounted to a telephone pole or a light pole through the use of a simple bracket which is rigidly secured to the article being hung from the pole, and which bracket is generally provided with a plurality of mounting holes. In order to hang the article to the pole, the entire article together with its integrally attached bracket must be raised and held to position and the holes in the bracket aligned with corresponding holes in the pole, through which bolts are thereafter inserted and secured. This is a very awkward and time consuming task which is not particularly safe and requires the assistance of more than one laborer. Thus, the overall mounting or dismounting of an article such as a lamp or kettle, from a pole, becomes not only time consuming but extremely expensive due to the large amount of manpower required. There is no quick or easy way presently on the market to mount and dismount articles from a pole, or other support. Additionally, it is difficult to insure proper vertical alignment of the article on the support when making the initial mounting.
By way of an additional example, many articles must be hung from a suspension support, such as a cable. For example, traffic lights are many times suspended from cables, or a cable is suspended from underneath a helicopter to support and carry an article away with the helicopter. In these situations, there is no foolproof and easy method for mounting and dismounting the article from the suspension support, and particularly with the application wherein a helicopter is utilized, there is need for improvement in mounts or couplings to provide a fast, efficient and secure way of coupling the bottom end of a cable suspended from the moving helicopter to an object or article on the ground to be picked up and carried away.
By way of even further example, a mounting bracket or coupling is sorely needed for the quick mounting and dismounting of different articles from the same support, while insuring that proper vertical alignment of the article with the support is being made. For example, it is desirable to be able to hang pictures on a wall in a very easy and quick fashion, and to maintain the picture in proper vertical alignment on the wall. Present picture hangers or mounts, permit the picture to become misaligned or crooked on the wall.
Another example of this latter type mounting requirement arises in the situation wherein a tractor or loader must be quickly able to attach many different appropriate implements, such as a bucket, scraper, forklift, dozer blade, or the like. Connections and disconnections of the implement must be made rapidly, and it must be insured that the implement is securely mounted in the proper vertical position with the tractor or loader. The present state of the prior art with regard to connecting such implements to a tractor is illustrated in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,886, which issued on Dec. 24, 1968 and is entitled "Implement Hitch For Tractors and Loaders".
The hitch disclosed in this Patent is very effective, yet it does have some shortcomings. Due to the configuration of this hitch, when an implement is being coupled to the tractor and the implement is not vertically aligned, the hitch disclosed in this Patent will force vertical alignment of the implement with the tractor, but many times this requires extra maneuvering and manipulating of the implement against the ground surface or another object with the tractor lift mechanism to induce the implement to settle down on its mount after initial engagement between the tractor and the implement. Many times the implement will not vertically self-align with the tractor upon initial coupling engagement simply through the weight or gravitational effects of the implement hanging on the front or back end of the tractor or loader.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a universal type article mount for suspension mounting of an article to a support wherein it is insured that the article will always drop into proper vertical alignment with the support upon initial engagement of the mounting brackets, thus providing a gravity self-aligning article mount which is foolproof and safe.
The gravity self-aligning article mount of the present invention for suspension mounting of an article to a support comprises in general a first mounting bracket adapted for securement to the support and a second mounting bracket adapted for securement to the article to be suspended from the support. The second mounting bracket is adapted for mating suspension engagement with the first mounting bracket. A vertically extending projection or horn is secured to upper portions of one of these brackets, and an opening in the upper portions of the other bracket is provided for receiving and seating the horn to hang the article bracket from the support bracket. The two brackets have engaging body portions which underlie the aforedescribed horn and opening, and these body portions are respectively provided with mating concave and convex contoured seating surfaces, which are adapted to gravitationally self-align one of the brackets with the other to vertical after the horn of one bracket has been engaged in the opening of the other bracket. Thus, once the horn at the upper portions of one bracket has been initially engaged into the opening at the upper portions of the other bracket, the gravitational weight of the article itself will cause the two brackets to automatically seat one with the other without further adjustment or maneuvering such that the article is forced to hang vertically as the lower body portions of the bracket are contoured such that the convex surface contour of one is matingly engaged with and received in the concave contour of the other bracket member, forcing the bracket members to automatically seat and align with each other.
With the configuration of the mount of the present invention, one bracket member may be simply dropped or lowered with a suspension line or cable onto the other bracket member, or one bracket member may be raised upwardly with a line or cable support or a lifting member such as the lifting arms of a tractor or loader to initially engage the other bracket member, causing the article being suspended to automatically self-align itself and seat, all without undue maneuvering and with little prealignment required. The only prealignment required is the mere initial engagement of the aforedescribed horn of one bracket with the opening of the other bracket.
Once the two bracket members comprising the article mount are in seating engagement, they may be readily and easily locked together by a securing means, such as by securing a pin received through transversely aligned openings in the contoured lower surfaces of the bracket members.
The same article mount of the present invention also may be utilized not only for hanging an article on a support, but may further be utilized to suspend an article to be moved or mounted from a cable or line which is depending downwardly from a boom, such as a crane boom.
Other objects and advantages appear in the following description and claims .